This is a forum for discussing children and new media and collecting insights into how children expect and react to new forms of electronic stimulation. Having my oldest son in a ore-school with a strict no-media policy has prompted a fair amount of thinking and discussion concerning whether computers should be allowed or not. Perhaps the issue is not just whether they be allowed but also what forms of interaction must be limited or encouraged to make the experience productive and beneficial.

There is a massive movement in content acquisition and management. Old uncopywrited materials are being scanned and placed into digital media. In some cases they are being opened up to the public.

Here is a nice story on NPR that brings a piece of this movement into perspective.

This is a course for the students with a strong interest in new technologies and how they may be used to create new business opportunities, particularly new social networking media. Topics covered will include social networking and how the business world leverages them, virtual worlds and technologies, skills in designing and implementing social media for business value using sharepoint and iTunes U (hands on projects). As Disney describes it, to some degree we will "imagineer" the future of business in this course... what would you do in business if anything were possible?

I was quoted in an article in the Wall Street Journal's SmartMoney Magazine today concerning the future of Software as a Service (SaaS).  This is a trend that has developed in the past four years and become a viable option for more and more functions to be provided over the Internet.  We even see SAP taking this strategy for delivery of capabilities to Small and Medium Enterprises with their recent Business ByDesign suite.  The basic idea is that you can avoid the heavy capital outlays up front and have immediate functionality akin to the features large corporations enjoy.

Lately, the IT world has been humming with a variety of acronyms and buzzwords as usual. We hear about SOA and ITIL as well as "virtualization." Here virtualization generally refers to the ability to separate the computational capabilities associated with a business process from specific servers or other hardware. In effect, grid computing in which any terminal on a given grid can access the functions available.

Identity Management is a real problem facing many firms right now. Most still grapple with it from the perspective of enterprise security, but many are beginning to realize that the security perspective in isolation leads to suboptimal design of collaboration and options for sharing and access. Enter network access policies and directory services. The space continues to grow. Top products are diversifying. Little guidance exists to understand this space and how to manage the tradeoffs inherent in the decisions.

Virtual worlds enable whole new business opportunities. Have a look at this article about second life and how successful businesses are using the medium to make real money. Note that the majority of this business usage currently centers on marketing and fashion. Other common uses of the virtual world include social clubs and advertising. Second life businesses article on CNET

This page will be hosting a variety of thoughts on how to use the emerging potential of new technologies. I have been collecting such ideas in a variety of places in the site, including new ideas from Utne and other topics looking at emerging technology and how to use it.

As I watch the market for ICT innovations, I am noticing the long-hyped move toward integration and multi-media with interest. New tools such as Impress in the OpenOffice suite or Keynote from Apple are challenging the dominance of PowerPoint for encapsulated content. New services from Accela or Go-to-meeting for web-casting presentations, challenge more expensive tools from Centra or Web-Ex.